US lottery ticket sales

American belief in God declining as American lottery sales rise. Two completely unrelated American trends on opposite sides of the regression line, but with a kind of poetic coincidence: faith retreated; the small-cost-hope category compounded.

Americans expressing belief in God has trended down over the past decade, with Gallup polling showing belief fall from about 92 percent in 2005 to roughly 81 percent by 2023. US lottery sales grew from about 50 to over 100 billion dollars annually across the same window as states expanded games and jackpots inflated. Two completely unrelated lines on opposite trajectories sharing a window because the same nineteen years saw both a long secular shift and a state-licensed gambling expansion.

One form of hope retreated; another expanded. The decade was generous about which kinds it accepted.